Traffic improvements to County Line completed

On County Line Road during the holidays, traffic more than doubles. More than 100,000 cars frequent the road to access the state's largest indoor mall, Park Meadows, according to Lone Tree officials. …

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Traffic improvements to County Line completed

On County Line Road during the holidays, traffic more than doubles. More than 100,000 cars frequent the road per day in November and December to access the state's largest indoor mall, Park Meadows, according to Lone Tree officials.

Park Meadows, along with myriad restaurants and retail shops scattered throughout the immediate area, relies heavily on interstate access through County Line from the east.

That traffic nightmare might soon be in the rearview mirror, City of Lone Tree officials hope.

The city announced the completion of major improvements to County Line on Nov. 1. The project, dubbed Phase 2A, was a partnership with Douglas County, the City of Centennial, the Denver South Transportation Management Association, Park Meadows Metropolitan District and the City of Lone Tree.

The Phase 2A project added additional turn lanes into the mall and to the interstate from County Line Road. The project improvements will be immediately put to the test as the rush of holiday shopping traffic looms.

“This phase of the project was critical to improve traffic in and out of Park Meadows Retail Resort and surrounding businesses along County Line and Park Meadows Center Drive corridors,” said Lisa Albers, the city's public works project manager. “Since the area was notorious for backups well past the Red Robin entrance, two additional approaches were added from Park Meadows Center Drive at County Line Road.”

The Phase 2A project began in August. The two main areas of focus for the project included plans to add an additional left-turn lane from County Line to Park Meadows Center Drive, the mall's main service road, and an additional on-ramp lane for an easier escape onto both the north and southbound lanes of I-25. The addition of a right turn lane onto County Line from the southbound I-25 off-ramp was the project's final touch.

“When you exist at the corner of I-25 and C-470, you can't help but spend a lot of time and energy looking at traffic and transportation, so it's exciting to be here to celebrate another transportation project,” Mayor Jackie Millet said in a news release.

County Line services about 57,600 vehicles on an average day, Lone Tree officials estimate. That number reaches more than 100,000 on an average day in November and December. Per peak hour on a Saturday, Park Meadows Center Drive serviced about 735 in one northbound lane.

“Now we have spread it out into three separate lanes,” Albers said. “That's three times as many folks that can make it through a green light at that intersection.”

The city doesn't plan to stop at County Line. City officials are currently drafting the city's first-ever transportation master plan to guide improvements through the year 2040. Many of those improvements include easing traffic on another busy Lone Tree road, Yosemite Street, which also garners heavy mall traffic during the holidays.

The improvements to County Line, officials hope, are more than just an investment in easing traffic flow, but to the economy of the city at large.

“What we see at the county is no doubt the impact to the mall, one of the main economic drivers in the state,” Douglas County Commissioner Roger Partridge said in a news release. “But we also see the impact to both Arapahoe and Douglas County."

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